Woah, it took me a month to finally get this typed up!
I did get back to the track one time after the track-rental, so this is the recap of it, which was on 11/3/24 at Island Dragway. IThe only thing different on the car since the rental was that I changed from Autolite 3923 spark plugs to the NGK BR7EF at the .028 gap out of the box. I drove to the track on the MT radials, and then switched over to the Hoosiers in the pits. The D.A. was awesome that day,; between 200-500 while I was there. I made 1 all motor pass and then the rest were dismal attempts at getting my 150 nitrous shot timeslips to match the ones I ran back in July (10.61 at 130.4 mph).
Pass 1:
This was an all motor pass. Both Hoosiers at 16.6 psi, airbags at 8psi (Drivers side) and 20 psi (Pass side), rear shocks at 1 (d) and 2 (p). footbraked to 2,201 rpms, converter flashed to 4,678 rpms. Shifted 1-2 too early at 5,562 rpms, shifted 2-3 at 5,875 rpms, and across the finish line at 6,257 rpms. Datalog showed that I was very light on the throttle, so it was not close to a WOT pass. Surprisingly, it went 11.56 and my p.b. on motor is actually 11.55, so in the springtime, I expect to get quicker all motor timeslips with a WOT pass.
Timeslip:
Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nLYWBBat_E
Pass 1 launch Photo from track photographer website:
Pass 2: Same shock settings and same airbag settings, but tires were now at 16.0 psi each, and I turned the nitrous on with the 150 jets. Footbraked to 1,708 rpms, spun, pedaled it, and made the 1-2 shift at 6,479 rpms. The 2-3 shift was 6,337 rpms, while again not WOT, and across the line at 6,438 rpms. Not a great pass,
Timeslip:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzhR5kdny-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6_lph0lN7A
Pass 3:
Lowered the pass side rear shock to setting 1 (lowest) so both rear shocks were at 1. Airbags still the same, 8 and 20 psi. Lowered the tire pressure to 15.4 hopeful to hook out of the hole. Footbrake launch at 2,557 rpms, launched and spun, pedaled it, shift 1-2 at 6,004 rpms, modulating throttle again, shift 2-3 at 6,528 rpms and 6,425 rpms at the finish line.
Timeslip:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpGAcCtVBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DH1FJXwjo
Pass 4:
Decided to bring the rear shocks UP to both be at level 3, which is right in the middle. Airbags the same as before, and let the rear tires drop to 15.0 psi each. Simply trying not to spin at the hit. Footbrake launch at 2,562 rpms, spun for a moment, and shifted 1-2 at 6,143 rpms. Shifted 2-3 at 6,452 rpms and finished at 6,572 rpms, ...again, not fully WOT for whatever dumb reason.
Timeslip:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgijhrxIPcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBUdtriRrh0
Pass 5:
Frustrated about the bad launches, I tried leaving the rear shocks at setting 3, and lowering air pressure in the rear bags (not smart) to be 5 psi (d) and 8 psi (pass side). I let the tires down to 14.6 psi each too. Footbrake launch at 1,638 rpms, spun bad, pedaled it, shifted 1-2 at 6,610 rpms, the 2-3 shift at 6,385 rpms, and finished at 6,487 rpms.
Timeslip:
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGU_n2rlL6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYK5A8k2iWo
That wrapped up the year of drag-strip action and over the next few weekends I did some local driving around before the early cold/snow came upon us.
So, for the 2024 calendar year I only put a total of 24 passes on the car. A few dragstrip personal bests, and I know I can chop down the all-motor timeslips even more come springtime. The nitrous passes will forever be a mystery to me because.. the July 7th slips were awesome, but every other time this year my mph was way lower. Out of the 24 passes this year, twelve were 10-second slips, ten were 11-second slips, and 2 passes were junk/aborted passes.
I have a few things that I plan on working on this winter, but trying to NOT spend a ton of money that I don't have. I think the single biggest purchase will be a UMI drag-bar to help the rear suspension on the launch. The airbags I've used as a band-aid for a few years but knowing that the rear likes to "unload" after the initial hit, has run its course for me. I want these Hoosiers to hook and not be inhibited from more 1.3x sixty-foots by the car unloading or whatever its doing. They still have some good life on them. I'll type up a post in the coming weeks about the other winter-plans, but that's it for 2024.
